


A Break in the Clouds

by fudgemutt



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sparrow Academy, And Five somehow ends up being the cool Uncle, Claire comes to stay, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Just a smidgen because I can't help myself, Just some wholesome Five and Claire bonding, Number Five | The Boy Gets A Hug, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Number Five | The Boy-centric, The Hargreeves finally get to relax after the shenanigans of Dallas, Uncle Five, no beta we die like ben
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-20 08:55:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30002436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fudgemutt/pseuds/fudgemutt
Summary: After the events of Dallas the Umbrella Academy slowly settle back into normal life, and Allison finally has visitation confirmed. Claire comes to visit her family for the first time, and Five isn't entirely sure how it happens, but somewhere along the line she ends up being his biggest fan.Or, the one in which Claire comes to visit and Five realises that he's not as bad with children as he initially thought.
Relationships: Claire & Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy), Number Five | The Boy & Allison Hargreeves
Comments: 21
Kudos: 121





	A Break in the Clouds

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know about you, but I feel that we were robbed of a scene where Five got to meet Claire. He strikes me as the sort of person that would inadvertently become the cool Uncle.

There was a child in front of him.

An actual child.

Just sat at the kitchen table with a fork halfway to her mouth, her socked feet swinging absentmindedly and curious eyes giving him a critical once-over.

“Morning Five” Allison greeted from where she was flipping pancakes at the stove. She was dressed down in some leggings and a loose shirt, her hair pulled up into a floral silk scarf. Although she still managed to look beautiful in her casualness. He supposed that was one of the perks of being a movie star. “Do you want pancakes?” 

“Err” He eyed the child warily and then glanced back at his sister.

“Oh yes” Allison nodded to herself, turning to the child. At least he finally knew she wasn’t a hallucination, it wouldn’t have been the first time he’d had them. “Five, meet Claire. Claire, this is your Uncle Five – you remember him, right? From our stories”

Five blinked dumbly at the child as realisation sunk in. Claire. _Claire._ Of course, it was blatantly obvious now; Claire looked so much like Allison had as a child that it was uncanny. The same wide smile, the same beautiful curls, the same bright eyes.

He had completely forgotten that his niece was going to stay for a weekend after Allison had visitation confirmed. Even though Allison and Vanya were now sharing an apartment a couple of blocks away, they’d decided that when the time came it would make sense for them to stay over at the academy, that way Claire could have one of the numerous spare bedrooms to herself, and they could also spend some time together as a family.

“You’re my Uncle Five? The one that can vanish?” Claire spoke up hesitantly through a mouthful of pancakes.

Five was fully aware that he was gaping like a fish, so he closed his mouth and glanced helplessly back at Allison, who was clearly enjoying his discomfort. She raised an eyebrow and handed him a plate of pancakes and a mug, cocking her head towards Claire in a clear indicator that she wanted him to talk to her.

“That’s me,” He said slowly, hating that his answer came out sounding more like a question. He was still feeling rather rattled by the unexpected company if he was being honest. “Although I call it a spatial jump, or blinking. I don’t really vanish, I just tear space and jump through the hole” He finished, hoping that he’d simplified the whole process enough for her to understand.

“Whoa!” Claire exclaimed with piqued interest, squirming a little in her seat with childlike excitement. “Can you show me? Spaceboy already showed me how he’s super strong. I want to see you do the blinking”

He shrugged and spatial jumped across the room so he was standing by the table, and he couldn’t help but feel amused at the way Claire’s eyes widened, her little hands gripping the edge of the table tightly.

“That’s so cool!” She grinned, showcasing a gap in her teeth where one of the incisors had fallen out. “Can you go anywhere?”

“Pretty much” He nodded, helping himself to the coffee from the cafetiere sat on the table.

“Even the candy store?” She whispered, leaning closer to him.

“If I wanted to”

“So does that mean you can get me a lollipop now if I wanted one?”

“Claire, it’s-” Allison paused and glanced at the wall clock. “10am, you are not having a lollipop at this time of day. Stop trying to bribe him”

“Grownups don’t know how to have fun” Claire muttered, stabbing a piece of her pancake with her fork. She gave him a curious look as she chewed. “If you’re my Uncle, how come you’re a child? Shouldn’t you be mommy’s age?”

“Claire” Allison warned, glancing at him nervously. And really, while he wasn’t particularly happy about his current physical situation, it wasn’t as if he was going to lay into a child for asking.

“I’m older than I look” He said simply.

“Okay,” Claire nodded, clearly placated by his answer. “Can I have another pancake mom?”

“Only one more” Allison rolled her eyes, but there was no mistaking the fond smile on her face. She turned back to him and raised a curious eyebrow. “You going to join us for breakfast? You’re welcome to eat down here you know”

“Yeah, I know, but…” He trailed off, glancing between the door and the kitchen table. He knew it was probably polite to stay downstairs, especially seeing as Claire was here. But he had a routine, he usually spent his mornings up in the quiet refuge of his bedroom. He loved his family, he really did, but he liked to have some time to himself, some space where he could hear himself think.

“I know, don’t worry” Allison interrupted, giving him an understanding smile. “Just make sure you come down later, okay? I’m planning a family dinner tonight at six and I want everyone to be there”

A family dinner with everyone included sounded rather chaotic, his mind flashing briefly back to the ill-fated one at the tiki lounge in Dallas. But he knew that there was no way he could find an excuse to get out of this one. “I guess I can do six”

“Thank you for sounding so enthusiastic,” Allison said sarcastically, but nevertheless she gave him a friendly nudge with her elbow.  
  


* * *

  
He frowned as he closed his copy of Disquisitiones Arithmeticae, a feeling of emptiness in his chest. He always felt that way when he finished a book, especially when it came to one as captivating as Carl Gauss’ greatest work. He had to admit that the Argyle Library had quite a decent section dedicated to Physics and Mathematics. He’d read through most of the books, even the non-mathematical ones, during his time in the apocalypse; but a number of them had been burnt in the fires, so there was still the joy in uncovering new ones he hadn’t read before.

Speaking of which.

He glanced down at his watch to find that it had just gone two, meaning that he’d spent a whole four hours hunched over the last three chapters. The library closed at four on a Saturday, which was more than enough time for him to drop off his pile of books to return and pick up some new ones. And if he finished early, he’d also be able to nip into the stationery shop and get some more notepads. Today was shaping up to be a good day.

He blinked down to the kitchen and deposited his plate and mug from breakfast in the sink, frowning as he cast his eyes around the room slowly. There was always someone around in search of food, usually Klaus or Luther, but this afternoon the room was strangely empty.  
  
Although now that he was concentrating, he could hear some muffled laughter coming from the sitting room upstairs. He went to investigate and poked his head around the doorframe to see nearly all of his siblings congregated in there. The sound of music from Luther’s record player on the sideboard was filling the air with 80's pop, which Luther had an unusual obsession for. 

Claire was currently sat on the floor and hunched over some paper on the coffee table, muttering to herself occasionally with her eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration. Vanya and Allison were huddled on the couch laughing amongst themselves, while Klaus was draped across the armchair with his knitting on his lap. From his vantage point, he could also see Luther and Diego in the courtyard, gesturing at the rather dismal flower beds and discussing something with smiles on their faces. He had to admit it was nice that his brothers had managed to bridge the competitive rift between them.

“Well well well” Klaus drawled, “Look who finally decided to come out of hibernation”

“I was wondering where you all were” Five said.

“We’re mingling like actual normal people” His brother waved a knitting needle in his direction. The yarn hanging from it was lurid pink with gold glitter in it; it felt like his retinas were going to burn.

He snorted and decided not to grace his brother with an answer, instead crossing the room and coming to a stop next to the coffee table. He peered down at Claire’s messy handwriting on the worksheet in front of her, no doubt her school homework. “I just thought I’d let you know that I’m heading out to the library. You know, because you all freak out if I go off on my own, and apparently I need permission to leave the house”

“You’re going to the library on a Saturday? Heck, I wouldn’t go there if someone put a gun to my head” Klaus commented, holding his yarn creation up in front of him and gazing at it intensely. It appeared to be some sort of…scarf? Five wasn’t entirely sure if he was being honest.

“We freak out because when you go off your own, it usually means you’re up to no good” Allison said, giving him a knowing look. “But just make sure that you’re back in time for-”

“The family dinner. Yeah, I remembered” Five interrupted. He glanced back down at Claire, the girl engrossed in her homework with a surprising amount of focus. It appeared to be simple calculations, subtracting and multiplications of the like.

“That’s wrong, by the way,” He said when one of her answers caught his eye. And it was at that exact moment he realised he’d fucked up.

Claire froze and looked at him with wide eyes and a wobbling lower lip. And _shit,_ he’d completely forgotten that children were fragile little creatures; that you needed to tiptoe around them. He didn’t even need to look at Allison to see the judgement on her face, he could practically feel her gaze burning into his back. The awkward silence was interrupted by some muffled laughter, curtesy of Klaus. 

“It’s wrong?” Claire said in a thin wavering voice, her pen clutched tightly in her hand.

“Err…” He stared down at her homework as he wracked his brain. He needed to tread carefully here. You needed to be soft with children, right? You needed to reassure them. “It’s okay, multiplications are hard”

“I do find multicationing hard” Claire sighed with resignation. He desperately wanted nothing more than to correct her, but he had a distinct feeling that would only make this situation a whole lot worse.

Okay. Think. _Think._ What did he need to do to make things better? What made him feel better when he was her age?

“Would you like to know a fun maths trick?”

 _“A fun maths trick”_ Klaus whispered with a mixture of disbelief and horror.

“There’s a fun maths trick?” Claire questioned curiously, the wounded look slowly sliding off her face.

Five sighed and eased himself down onto the floor beside her, his legs outstretched uncomfortably in the space underneath the coffee table. “So, this only works for multiplications of nine, but it’s handy to know”

Claire nodded eagerly; her gaze fixed on him. It felt strange for someone to be looking at him with their undivided attention, usually people brushed off his words as the ramblings of a madman.

“Okay, so you put your hands out in front of you, like this, with your palms facing you. And how many times you want to multiply nine by, you put that finger down”

She looked a little confused, so he pointed to the answer she got wrong. “This question wants you to multiply nine by three, so put your middle finger of your left hand down”

“Okay” She said quietly to herself, staring at her hands as if they held all the answers to the world.

“So that means you’ve got two fingers here” He tapped her thumb and index finger, “And then you’ve got seven fingers on the other side”

“So the answer is twenty-seven, not twenty-six” Claire said with swiftly dawning realisation. Five couldn’t help but be impressed, I mean, he was working on abstract algebra and geometry before the age of ten. But then again, his father was fastidious when it came to education. But for a normal child raised in a somewhat normal household, there was no denying that Claire was a bright kid.

“So that means if I want to times nine by four, I put this finger down Uncle Five?” Claire continued, wiggling her ring finger.

“Yes, just like that,” He said approvingly. “Of course, you can only go up to ten. But it’s a neat trick, huh?”

Claire nodded as she erased her incorrect answer and replaced it with the correct one, before glancing back up at him. “Do you still have to go to the library?”

He pursed his lips with thought. He wanted nothing more than to stock up on some physics books to last him through the next week, not to mention he was getting dangerously close to the end of his last notebook. Allison had made him promise to use them instead of writing on his walls, much to his immense annoyance.

But Claire was looking up at him with such hopeful eyes and a small but genuine smile on her face. She was wearing jeans and an obnoxiously green top that read the phrase ‘BE HAPPY’ across the font in sparkling lettering, her hair pulled up into twin afro puffs and decorated with gingham bows. It was rare that he interacted with people smaller than him, normally he had to crane his head up to meet their eye. But Claire was small. So unbelievably _small._

He'd killed children like her.

Children who watched with terrified eyes as he shot their parents. Children where he had no choice but to place a bullet between their eyes too.

He’d killed babies while they slept in their cots; the youngest being only two weeks old. When it came to them, the Commission requested that he made it look like a tragic but natural death to avoid suspicion. Their muffled cries as he held a blanket over their faces still haunted him in his dreams. 

“Uncle Five?” Claire said, cocking her head to one side and pulling him out of his thoughts.

“I’m sure that he’s got better things to be doing than helping you with your homework, young lady” Allison said, reaching down to tweak Claire’s nose cheekily; the girl giggled and swatted the hand away.

He’d killed many children in his years. But this child in front of him, this little carbon copy of his sister, he was going to make sure that he wouldn’t hurt this one. He was going to make sure she got the childhood he never got.

“It’s fine, I can go to the library another day” He waved a hand dismissively, ignoring the look of surprise that Allison sent his way. “Now that I’ve got another trick for memorising the numbers of Pi. Have you heard of Pi before?”

“Like cherry pie?” Claire questioned.

“A different kind of Pi. Here, I’ll show you” He said, reaching for her exercise book and flipping over to the new page.

He only realised thirty minutes later, while explaining the historical origins of Pi to his niece who was trying her best to follow along, that the other occupants of the room had fallen into silence and were watching the scene unfold. The page in front of them was filled with numbers and diagrams; in pencil for him and a glittery blue gel pen for Claire.

“You’re a really good teacher. Are you going to be one when you grow up?” Claire asked as he helped her with her geography homework, having finished her maths. Who would have thought that all those trips across the world assassinating would’ve come in handy today?

“I don’t know what I want to be” He answered, preoccupied with drawing a rough outline of Australia in her notebook.

“You should be a teacher” Claire nodded with finality. “A teacher like Mrs Wilson, she’s super cool and explains everything really well, just like you do”

“Thank you” He shrugged with slight embarrassment, but nevertheless he could feel a little bubble of warmth spread across his chest.

“Although you don’t smell like Mrs Wilson, she smells like old people”

“Claire, you can’t say that!” Allison chided.

“What? It’s true” Claire answered indignantly, jutting her chin up in a rather comical fashion. “You’re always telling me to be honest”

“Yeah, but if what you’re going to say will hurt the other person, it’s better to just think it and not say it, even if it’s true” Vanya piped up, giving Claire a friendly nudge with her foot.

“You know Five, you could do with keeping that little nugget of advice in mind” Klaus said mildly, quirking an eyebrow. Five scoffed and chucked the pencil in his direction, his brother shrieking dramatically when it struck him in the face.

“Hey, no throwing things!” Allison hissed. “You’re children, the lot of you. I would have expected more from you Five”

“Oi, what’s with all the noise?” Another voice joined in, and they glanced up to see Diego leaning into the room from the courtyard through the open window. “Seriously we’re talking out here, and all we can hear are you guys squawking at each other”

“Squawking” Klaus said, offended.

“You are rather loud” Claire said pointedly, in that bluntly direct way children spoke, and Five tried to disguise his snort of amusement as a cough. He obviously wasn’t that successful, judging by the way Klaus delicately placed a hand over his chest.

“You wound me” He uttered. But despite his words, he deposited his knitting down beside him and slid off the chair like a serpent, shuffling over to the coffee table. “You guys need an extra tutor?”

Five said no at the same time Claire said yes.

“Excellent” Klaus grinned with a clap of his hands, leaning over and squinting down at the drawing. “Is that a map of America?”

“Australia” Five deadpanned, eyes narrowed.

“Oh yeah, I can see it now” Klaus nodded thoughtfully. “Hey, give me a pen, I’ll help you out with it”

Five sighed as Claire handed him a purple gel pen.  
  


* * *

  
Five was beginning to regret his life choices.

In fact, he regretted many life choices.

But his current one was agreeing to join the family dinner Allison had been yammering on about all day. He thought it would be a simple ordeal, perhaps something like a small home cooked meal around the dining table. But instead, it was a trip to a child-friendly restaurant a couple of blocks away, complete with an attached playpark full of shrieking children. It was called Grill n’ Chill, which was rather ironic, seeing as he felt like the very opposite of chill at the moment.

After the whole homework situation earlier it seemed like his Niece had developed an attachment to him. Which while flattering was also somewhat of a hindrance, seeing as he soon found himself with a four foot something limpet practically attached to his hip. Which lead him to his current situation, wedged between Vanya on his right and Claire on his left, the latter of which chattering on about some classmate called Tom who stole her pen set.

“Daddy got them for me for my birthday last year!” She said around a mouthful of pizza, a smear of tomato sauce on her cheek.

“Yeah?” He said, giving her a napkin.

“And they’re those really good pens too, I saw them and they’re really sparkly and I wanted them so much. But Daddy said no because I already had pens, so I felt really sad”

“Hmm” He nodded.

“And I started crying in the car on the way back because I really wanted them. And daddy said that maybe if I was good he would get me them for my birthday” She clapped her hands together suddenly and then exclaimed, “And he did!”

“That’s kind of him” He nodded, wincing at the sudden rise in volume right next to his ear. Allison shot him a sympatric glance from across the booth, but he waved her concern off.

“But then Tom came along and he stole them! I told Mrs Wilson but Tom said that it wasn’t him, even if I did know it was him because I saw him take them. He unzipped my pencil case and took them, and he even took the yellow one which was my favourite because it smells like pineapples”

“The audacity” He said absentmindedly, warily eyeing Diego and Klaus who were dangerously close to starting a food fight and wielding their utensils like weapons, goodness knows over what. He was thankful he’d sat next to Vanya, she was calm and quiet, there was little drama when it came to her. Well, if you excluded the whole moon-chunk hurtling towards Earth situation, that was. 

“What’s an audacippy?” Claire asked.

“It’s a noun meaning boldness, like when someone is daring and isn’t afraid of the consequences” Five explained, and then added, “Although many people use it as an exclamation, like when someone does something that you don’t necessarily agree with, or you're unhappy with”

“What’s an exclamation?”

“Claire” Allison spoke up, leaning across the table and raising an amused eyebrow. “Leave poor Five alone and eat your dinner. I thought you wanted ice cream for dessert? You only get ice cream if you eat all your food”

“Ooh! I’m going to get the strawberry ice cream with the wafer and-”

“Claire” Allison interrupted.

“Fine” She grumbled sulkily, but to her credit, she did turn back to her food. The corner of Allison’s lips quirked up and she gave him a look, whispering a quiet, “She’s just excited” to him before she settled back into her own chair.

“I don’t mind” He said, giving her a little shrug. And if he was being honest, he didn’t mind this evening as a whole. Sure, it wasn’t the way that he’d willingly choose to spend his time, but he had to admit that it was rather nice to take some time to unwind. It had been a substantial adjustment settling back into some sort of normalcy, one without apocalypses to stop or Commission agents to run from.

“What ice cream are you going to get?” Claire piped up as she picked the mushrooms off her remaining slices of pizza, placing them gingerly in a pile at the edge of her plate.

“Probably vanilla”

“Boring” She announced, giving him a pointed look. The expression was so like the sort of one Allison would give, and there was definitely no denying that Claire would grow up to be like her. “You should get strawberry, it’s the tastiest” 

“Maybe I will” He said, smiling at her.  
  


* * *

  
He’d always actively avoided children in his life; they were noisy and sticky and, frankly speaking, stupid. He had no patience for their idiotic games. But Claire was different, and he had to admit that when it came to Sunday evening, he was feeling just as sad to see her go as the rest of his siblings.

She hugs him, and he’s surprised enough by the spontaneity of it all that it took him a few seconds to hug her back.

“Thank you for helping me with my homework Uncle Five, and for teaching me stuff, even if I didn’t understand a lot of what you said” She said, peering up at him with big eyes, her tiny arms still wrapped around his waist.

“You’re welcome” He replied, feeling a little choked up.

“Next time I come, can I bring my maths homework again?”

He swallowed thickly and readjusted the plastic crown that was perched on top of her head. It was a gift from Klaus, one he’d dug up from his seemingly bottomless pit of a wardrobe. “Sure thing. Bring all your homework if you want”

“That’s good because they always give me a lot” She nodded, detangling herself from him and joining Allison where she was stood at the doorway. She stopped by her Hello Kitty suitcase and stared down at it forlornly. “Do I really have to go mommy?”

“Yes, but I promise that you’ll be back here before you know it” Allison said sadly, giving her a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. She inhaled shakily in a way that indicated that she was holding back tears, before glancing up at them. “Tell you what sweetheart, how about Uncle Five comes with us to the airport? Would you like that?”

Claire immediately perked up, spinning on the spot to give him a pleading look. “Will you?”

Five opened and closed his mouth a few times, feeling a little singled out.

“He will” Diego answered for him, giving him a little nudge with his elbow.

“I will?” He said a little numbly.

“You will” Diego murmured, bending down slightly into his line of sight to give him an amused wink. “Surely you can take some time out of your busy schedule of probabilities to say goodbye to your Niece, old man”

He glanced around a little nervously, feeling a little flustered by the whole situation. No one had ever willingly wanted his company, and he had to admit that it felt rather nice to be wanted.

“You don’t want to come with me to the airport?” Claire questioned with a displeased frown, and then exclaimed with utmost passion, “The audacippy!”

He doesn’t know if he wants to laugh or cry.

“Let me just grab a jacket” He said instead, blinking up to his room just as the tears started falling down his cheeks.  
  


* * *

  
“You’re actually pretty good with kids you know” Allison remarked from where she was sat across the booth from him, her chin propped up on her hand. His sister’s eyes were still a little red-rimmed and her mascara was slightly smudged from the tearful goodbye at the airport only an hour prior, although she was much more composed than he thought she’d be. He’d stayed away from the whole thing to give them space, watching from the uncomfortable airport seating as Allison and Patrick exchanged a few hushed words between them; his sister giving a final hug to Claire that spoke of nothing but unconditional love.

“I guess” He said eventually, plucking a couple of cold fries up on the tray in front of him.

They’d stopped at a rather dire fast food place to break the journey up a bit and to grab some dinner. He wasn’t really feeling hungry if he was being honest, although he did appreciate the strawberry milkshake Allison had ordered alongside his burger, he needed some sucralose after the emotionally draining weekend.

“It wouldn’t hurt you to be less emotionally constipated, you know” Allison scoffed, lightly kicking him underneath the table. “Seriously, you were really good with her, I’m impressed”

“Don’t patronise me” He grumbled, aggressively shoving a couple of fries in his mouth and chewing.

“Jesus Christ Five, I’m not being patronising” Allison’s eyes softened, and she reached across the table to rest her hand on top of his. He swallowed and ignored the temptation to pull his hand away, instead turning to look outside through the window. It was dusk now, the tree’s backlit against the headlights of the passing cars and the last slithers of the sunlight.

“I’m being honest, I didn’t know you were that good with kids” Allison continued, squeezing his hand before pulling back.

“I’m just as surprised as you are,” He said, idly picking at the sesame seeds on his burger bun. “I was worried that I’d hurt her something”

“Why on earth would you think that?” She frowned.

He raised an eyebrow and glanced up at her. “You do realise that I’ve killed children like Claire, right? Dozens of them. The Commission didn’t exactly have a lower age limit on their targets”

Allison chewed on her mouthful of food slowly, her eyes fixed on him with an expression he couldn’t quite decipher. Eventually she swallowed, managing out a quiet, “No lower age limit, huh?”

He shook his head, sipping at his milkshake and letting the taste of artificial strawberries fill his mouth.

“So babies too?” She said, mouth twisting into a frown.

“Yeah” He said, hating how his voice cracked. He swallowed and glanced away from her; more to avoid seeing the judgemental look he knew would be on her face. The diner was mostly empty apart from a rather bored looking server wiping down a table, and a couple of kids near the door, talking quietly amongst themselves.

“That must have been difficult” Allison said, her voice soft. He snorted tiredly, because of all the things he’d been expecting, sympathy certainly wasn’t it, especially from such a family focussed person such as Allison.

“Understatement of the century” He replied, finishing the rest of his fries and grimacing at the taste of grease that clung to them.

“You’re not dangerous, you know” Allision said slowly, watching him carefully. “If you were I wouldn’t have trusted you with Claire. I know you wouldn’t hurt her”

“I wouldn’t” He agreed.

“And I know that you were…forced to do those things. That you didn’t do them willingly”

“But what if that wasn’t the case?” He said, “What if I lose control and hurt her? I’ve never really been around kids before, but they can be pretty damn annoying sometimes – no offence. They’re just so small and what I get pissed off and do something”

“I think that you’re working yourself up into a panic over nothing,” Allison said with an understanding tilt of her head. “Because if that were the case you would have offed Klaus already, probably even Diego too if we’re being honest”

“That’s…probably true. I mean, I’ve had the temptation to chuck them out a window, but I’ve never actually done it” He acknowledged, because believe him, Klaus tested his patience on most days. But no matter how many times his brother got on his nerves, he still wouldn’t hesitate to jump in front of a bullet for him.

“I know it’s a bit simplistic to say, but the apocalypse is over, and hopefully we won’t be hearing from the Commission any time soon. You’ve got a chance to put that chapter of your life behind you, a fresh start and all that”

“That sounds like the sort of delusional crap Klaus’ cult would say” He said. Allison kicked him again, harder than last time, and he couldn’t help but yelp when her shoe hit his shin.

“I’m being serious here, and besides, Claire doesn’t know you as that person. She doesn’t know all about the apocalypse and the Commission and the fact that you’re essentially a pensioner. All she cares about is the fact that you’re her cool Uncle who taught her maths and hung out with her while she came to stay. And I know for a fact that she loved spending time with you. She was sad to leave you at the airport”

He blinked wordlessly, because that was quite a lot to take in, and he was rather reluctant to admit that he hadn’t quite thought about it in that way before.

“Is it just me or are these burgers disgusting?” Allison said, giving him a small smile. And really, there was no way he wasn’t going to accept the change in conversation that she was offering him.

“They’re shit” He agreed, staring down at the remaining two-thirds of his burger sat in front of him. Just the mere sight of it made his stomach churn.

“How about I grab us a couple of doughnuts for the journey back? I think they’re probably the least questionable thing they sell in this place” She said as she rose from the booth with a stretch of her arms above her head. “Any preferences?”

“Just a raspberry filled for me, and grab me a coffee too”

Allison paused and glanced at him from over her shoulder expectantly, an eyebrow raised towards her hairline.

“Please” He added with effort, gathering their rubbish onto the tray.

“Huh, I guess the phrase that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks is wrong after all” Allison remarked mildly.

“Shut up” He hissed, and then added more softly, “Allison?”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you, for, you know, what you said” He swallowed thickly, hating how the intensity of Allison’s gaze on him made his cheeks flush with the attention.

She smiled fondly and reached out to ruffle his hair, chuckling at the indignant squawk he made at the action. “And thank you for being a great Uncle, I couldn’t have asked for a better family”

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope you enjoyed this, and I would love to hear your thoughts on it! I must admit that I'm more of an angst writer, but I thought I'd try my hand at something a little less emotionally taxing! 
> 
> You can also find me on Tumblr at https://fudgemutt.tumblr.com/ ❤️


End file.
